So you go for the carrot sticks, the celery, the
low-fat dressing. You skip the butter on your bread. And then you go home and eat two
gallons of ice cream.
Sometimes cravings occur when your body lacks nutrients--including
vitamins and minerals--during pregnancy, says Helene Leonetti, M.D., an
obstetrician/gynecologist in private practice in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia. But
the funny thing is, we rarely crave a nice big bowl of steaming butternut squash. More
like pumpkin pie. And that's where we can get into trouble. "Food cravings are
the body's natural cravings gone awry," says Dori Winchell, Ph.D., a psychologist in
private practice in Encinitas, California.
"That happens because women often won't allow
themselves the food they need. Instead, they skip breakfast, eat a tiny salad for lunch and then go
home and head for the chips, fries and chocolate bars," says Jan McBarron, M.D., a
weight-control specialist and director of Georgia Bariatrics in Columbus, Georgia.
 | What Women Doctors Do
|
- Pickles Helped Nausea
- Helene Leonetti, M.D.
- Among the pregnant women
she counsels, few experience the sort of food cravings often associated with pregnancy,
says Helene Leonetti, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist in private practice in the
northern suburbs of Philadelphia. When cravings do hit, she says, they could be caused by
a physiological need or, less commonly, simply triggered by suggestion.
-
- "If we hear that women crave pickles during
pregnancy, then we'll crave pickles," says Dr. Leonetti. And crave them she did when
she was pregnant.
-
- "When I got pregnant in adulthood, I was
nauseated, and the tart-sour taste of pickles made me feel better," she recalls. When
her nausea went away, so did her pickle craving.
-
- Along with her craving for pickles, Dr. Leonetti
developed an aversion to coffee. "While I was pregnant, I couldn't even be in the
same room with coffee," she says.
|
- If you're in perfect health and satisfied with your
weight, cravings may be harmless. But if you suspect that giving in
to cravings for food high
in fat, sugar or
excess calories may be to blame for a recent weight gain or a jump in your cholesterol
levels, or that food cravings are jeopardizing other aspects of your health, here's what
women doctors suggest.
Suck a sour pickle.
"If you are about to pig out, suck a sour pickle to eliminate the craving for
sweets," says Maria Simonson, Sc.D., Ph.D., director of the Health, Weight and Stress
Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore.
Juice it. A
really strong craving for sweets can often be stifled by eating a peppermint washed down
by a few ounces of fruit juice or a few nibbles of fruit, such as an apple or pear, says
Dr. Simonson.
Fool your sweet tooth
with spice. "Cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg can satisfy a sweet tooth,
since these spices add a sweet flavor without the calories," says Elizabeth Somer,
R.D., author of Food and Mood and Nutrition for Women. Add cinnamon, vanilla
or nutmeg to yogurt or steamed milk, Somer says.
Grab something
absorbing. Instead of reaching for a bag of chips, reach for the op-ed page
of the newspaper--or whatever else you might find engaging. "Once you're absorbed in
an interesting or playful activity, your craving is likely to fade away," says Susan
Olson, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Seattle and co-author of Keeping It Off:
Winning at Weight Loss.
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